Between Blades and Words
by bettercrazythanboring
Summary: DC Marriage Week Day 1: Proposal.


"For shit's sake, Chesh," Red Arrow says as his elbow hikes around her throat on some roof, "couldn't you have picked a night I _wasn't_ on patrol?"

"But this is _so_ much _fun_," Cheshire croons, snaking out of his hold and making them both tumble down to the pavement with a roll. She ends up on top, straddling his hips while the perfectly sharpened blade of her sai tickles his cheek.

Roy will never stop being ashamed that the image of her above him—disheveled and chaotic with one missing sleeve, a creepy smirk on the mask that so rarely leaves her face, holding his life between her fingers in the handle of her sai—sends a rush of blood pooling in his groin.

And he is.

Every time it happens.

Which is a number no longer counted in the single—or even the lower half of double—digits.

He kicks her shoulder blades with his knee, rolling with her when she falls forward until he's on top again, sitting on her thighs and pushing them together with all the strength his legs have.

His hands pin hers above her head and he leans down, stopping just an inch from the mask's mouth. She lets out a disappointed moan at that.

"Now, Jade," he whispers, his breath coming out misty white in the cold autumn air, "give the pretty diamond back."

"In your _dreams_, Arrow Boy," she says, wiggling her hips up at his to create friction through the not-as-thick-as-it-could-be material of his pants.

"Why, Cheshire, that's just unethical," he teases, doing his best to think of ugly and cold things. "What would your father say?"

Her motions freeze instantly. "If you want to escape here with all limbs, you never mention him again," she snarls up at him, breaking out of her lover's restraints with an agility and strength that surprises Roy—and he _knows_ what she's capable of.

They both jump to their feet, ready for combat.

"Honey, I'm not the one who has to escape here tonight," he reminds her as their limbs begin an endless dance of being on the verge of clashing and breaking, but never actually quite touching. Except for when he kicks her mask off her face, revealing the stunning woman underneath.

It's not the death matches they used to have years ago. It's not bloodlust that drives them now.

It's _pure_ lust.

With a side of no permanent damage.

"Oh, but I will," she assures him when both their left arms wind up under the other's right armpit, tangled in a way neither wants to let go of as they breathe against each other. "Question is what state you'll be in when I do."

He grabs her other hand behind her, yanking it sharply upwards on her back. "I'm not worried about me."

"Please." She chuckles menacingly through the pang of pain. "You do worse stuff to me in bed."

Jade jumps up quickly, landing on his hips as his grip on her loosens in surprise, and pushes him backward with a simple motion of her legs, letting them both fall to the floor.

"And so do _I_," she finishes, pressing a quick kiss to his lips as he sees stars from the fall.

"But you won't for long," he says, kicking her off him and resuming a battle stance. "One day soon I'll find the original Speedy and someone will send you to assassinate me," he warns, watching as her figure stiffs.

"I know what _I_ have to live for," he says, his eyes daring even behind his domino mask. "Do _you?_"

"Only one comes out alive; is that it?" she asks, mouth tight, sai at the ready.

"That's how Luthor operates," Roy says, "and if it's not you he sends, it'll be someone else. And another, and another, until he finally kills me. You really wanna work for a man who'll do that?"

"You've asked me to switch sides, Red," she says, throwing her sai to the ground and walking over with the unmistakably simple anger of crossed arms. "I _won't_." She grits her teeth. "So _stop_ asking. It's annoying."

"I'm not," he says, throwing his mask onto the ground and letting his knife join it. "I'm not asking you to switch. Just take a leave of absence."

Her eyes narrow and her nose flares. "Why should _I_ be the one to comprom—?"

"_Both_ of us," he clarifies, swallowing harshly as he looks straight at her. "At least until we figure this thing out."

She examines him with distrustful eyes, fingers lingering inches away from his biceps.

"What makes you think there's anything _to_ figure out?" she asks.

"Chesh, we spend our days fighting and the nights clawing each other's skin off and it _never_ stops." His jaw clenches. "And I don't _want_ it to stop."

"Well, lucky you." She presses closer, daring him to cross the rest of the way. "Neither do I."

"What are we gonna do about that?" he asks, eyes fixed on the way the street lights of Star City fall on this one point on her cheek.

"You. Me. City Hall. Tomorrow. Bring your driver's license."

He frowns. "What?"

"If I'm gonna quit," she says, "I'd better have a _damn_ good reason."

Jade stares him down and that's when it clicks—what she means.

"And you think getting _married_ at twenty-one is the way to do that?"

"I'm actually twenty-two," she purrs sweetly. "Get your head out of your ass, Red; marriage doesn't last forever. But there's no shame in enjoying the perks while it does. What do you say?" Jade raises an eyebrow and smirks.

He takes a few breaths, his forehead puckering, and then there's a smile tugging up his lips as well.

"I'm in."

She bites her lip—more in seduction that shyness. "Good," she says, taking the clear diamond out of her pocket and throwing it off the edge of the building, into a private yard. "'Cause if we don't do this, one of us will need a job."

"And it ain't gonna be you?" he guesses as they start walking away from the masks and weapons lying on the roof.

"Hah. It _will_ be me; you don't look like you've ever worked a day in your life," she says, giving him a once-over.

"That is true." He looks back at the life they're leaving behind. "So, who gets the diamond?"

"Whoever gets there first."

"Leaving it up to chance, then?"

"Exactly."

With the hands resting in their pockets, they both immediately text their associates know where to go and to hurry, smiling at each other.

"We can really get married tomorrow?" he asks, setting up the zipline to the fastest way home, which happens to be a lot of roofs.

"Don't be ridiculous," she says, glancing at him. "Three days."

"Let's hope one of us doesn't get cold feet."

She leans up to kiss him full on the mouth, biting and pressing. His hands drop whatever they were holding and it wouldn't have taken a lot for them to end up naked right then and there.

When Jade pulls back, her tongue is on her lips. "Our feet are always cold," she says. "It's one of the perks."

* * *

**A/N:** I'll do the DC Marriage Week every day with a different pairing and also every day with Spitfire, so you can browse my profile for that. There won't be a sequel to this.


End file.
